I have these 19" Toba Wheels on my XJ

http://onwheelsltd.com/sites/default...a%20Silver.JPG

I think its safe to say I have now scuffed all 4 in the small time of 6 months of ownership. I am careful, but it just seems impossible not to scuff them even when grazing a kerb.

I have the Jag recommended Dunlop Sport Maxx GT tyres on and they aren't THAT low profile, but still keep getting scuffed by kerbs in the UK.

I am going to get them repaired (around £50 each = £200) and put some Rim Protectors on them, does anyone have any advice on how to protect them in any other way?

 

I have the 19" Aleutians, I have never kerbed wheels so much on previous cars like it happens on this one

 

Hi there, sorry to hear of your kerbing issues........total PITA

If you check, you may find that some tyres offer more "rim protection" than others, it really is a factor in some tyres and could shield the alloys by as much as 3-4mm

I know it doesn't sound a lot, but those little grazes here n there could be avoided with rim protection tyres.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of these add on rim protectors / alloy gators etc as imo they just look plain ugly.

With 19's on my A6 and 20's on the Jag I know how you feel, they can be around £300 - £400 for a good quality refurbishment.

My honest to goodness advice would be to leave the protectors off and simply be more careful, take that little bit extra time and make SURE you're away from the kerb, avoid situations that may inflict damage.

For example, I will not take my car through a drive through at McD's or Burger King etc....they have high kerbs, tight bends and narrow lanes where kerbing is an almost certainty.

That's my take, hope it helps...

 

For the first year and a half I scuffed my rims a lot so I purchased a spare front and rear Matavia wheel and when one gets scuffed change it out and get it refinished for $170.00. I'm not going to say I do it a lot less now as I may be cursing myself, but you learn over time.

 

Thats what I've started to do, but I just feel it makes my car less "useful" to take places.

 

Even if you don't curb your wheels, a deep pothole can put a nice set of scratches on your wheels. Sometimes it just can't be avoided.

I wonder if putting wider tires would help protect the edges of the rims.

 

Hmm yeh.

I'm going to get some rim protectors on, but would prefer strips of circular rubber that I could create a buffer with on the tire/tyre instead as that won't take away the shine of the alloys.

 

What are rim protectors?

 

Let me see if I have this right.

You are "annoyed" that your automobile, whilst being operated by yourself, had the absolute audacity to scuff all four of its wheels within six months of ownership?

An obvious defect in the car, right! What a piece of sh**!
I would contact Jaguar warranty dept. and my barrister/lawyer immediately (and not necessarily in that order.)

Man, you guys are a kick in the butt!
I obviously predate the current fascination for hideous "clown car" wheels and rubber band tires by at least several decades, but that doesn't really change the basic concept.
In my era, the first thing that contacted the curb/kerb if you got too close was the tire ... and if you were one of the fortunate and/or rich kids it was right in the middle of your lovingly maintained wide whitewalls.
I can't think of anyone who wouldn't hurry to repair or at least hide the damage before anyone saw it. The shame!
If you had the utter ***** to whine about it, it would only take a nanosecond for someone (or more likely several someones) to tell you to learn to freakin' drive!

Then again, we didn't have important stuff like incoming texts to worry about.

Maybe curb feelers will come back in style:

Retro

 

I too would like to know. Curbs her in the south are much higher than in the north, as are "speed bumps", probably due to the fact they don't need to use snow plows here.

 

Maybe the roads in Mississippi are better, but where I am I literally cannot drive my XKR in the winter because of all the potholes and loose pavement. My wife's Hyundai is taking a beating. The summer is not much better.

As wheels get bigger and bigger, and tires are lower and lower profile, the wheels are much more susceptible to this sort of damage. My XKR's wheels have quite a few nicks on the rims from potholes. By comparison, my '97 Lexus with much thicker rubber never got any scratches on the wheels over many times more miles driven...!

I guess it is just a trade-off for the modern look!

 

Rim protectors look like these:

https://www.getnrg.com/files/images/rims.jpg

http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/a...mug/tt/ag1.jpg

Various brands, Rim Blades, Rim Guards, Gator Guards etc out there.

You can get a total black colour which "blends" into the tyre so doesn't look visible, or a silver colour that blends into the silver/grey alloy wheel. They cover the area that scuffs the most often (about 1cm from the rim). Or if you are more daring you can go for an outrageous colour to stand out.

 

Did you even read the title of this post?

Let me help educate you.

The issue I spoke of specifically relates to the Toba wheels as they seem to be more susceptible to scuffing. I have never had this problem on similar sized low profile wheels, these don't have much buffer or protection with the standard Jag recommended Sport Maxx GT tyres.

Driving better? Being annoyed at scuffed wheels as they do not offer much protection is an expression of emotion, is this beyond your comprehension? Do you not understand that people might post on this forum to see what other peoples views are and if they can offer anything else as a solution to help prevent scuffing them apart from "you're an idiot drive better".

If you want I can help educate you on the Internet.

Exactly! Glad to know you understood the problem! unlike retromotors

 

Thanks for the info. I went online and found "Rimskins" a rubber polymer based product rather than plastic, made in Australia, available in a variety of colors, including grey/silver to match alloy wheels. They cover existing damage, and prevent further damage. In the U.S. they retail for $59.95 plus tax and shipping.

 

Hmmm... those look pretty cheesy to me. I think I'd just rather get my wheels refinished every other year!!

 

Edit: Aah ... never mind. No sense having a flamefest.

 

I guess his point is that until recently, grazing a curb wouldn't cause any damage at all. Of course, if you had whitewalls it would be noticeable but with blackwalls not so much...!

 

Well, i didn't think they looked "cheesy", but then again I haven't seen them in person. What do you think refinishing your wheels every other year will cost you?

 

The curbing issue, as most of you no doubt would agree, is the product of the low profile, square-sidewalled tires. This "fashion" had started around the late 1980s when tires still had higher sidewalls, 50 series was about the extent of low profile, as opposed to all the way down to 20 series tires today. What it means that a 50 profile tire with a thread-width of 285mm had a sidewall height of 142.5mm. A 30 series 285mm tire has a sidewall that is only 85.5 mm tall.

The consequences to adapting such low sidewalls are almost all negative; shorter sidewalls require stiffer sidewall constructions to prevent sidewall flex that would destroy the rim when driving over potholes. Stiffer sidewalls result in stiffer rides that are difficult to compensate by springs and shocks. Just about all of today's cars riding on low profile tires have worse ride qualities than older profiles. Also, wheels (unsprung weight) are far and far heavier today than what they used to be. That, because manufacturers realise that some of the impact that used to be taken up by a more flexing sidewall now has to be borne by the wheel. So, they make them like tank. Still, just by cruising auto forums lots of rim damage (curb scuffing and bent rims) are being reported while such issues were almost non-existent before.

Advantages of low profile? There are some; they are fashionable and look "better" than taller sidewall tires. The ultimate handling is better since there is less tire deformation at high cornering loads. Of course, that aspect can only be realized on racing tracks and only by qualified racing drivers going all out. For the average fast street driver the performance envelopes of 50 or 55 series tires were more than what they could handle. As for performance, do check out the tire sidewalls on F1 and many other racing cars. They are far higher profiles than what we have on our street cars today.

I have 3 Jags, with various sidewall profiles (30, 40, 45). In my years of ownership I finally managed to ever slightly curb my front pass. wheel on my XJL by trying to park as far away from a car next to me as it appeared possible by the proximity of a curb. In the process it proved to be a bit too far:-).

If I had a choice I would use 55 or even 60 series tires on my sedans and, perhaps 50s on my XKR. Unfortunately, market forces demand that the manufacturers keep increasing the wheel sizes/decreasing the tire sidewall sizes. It is not possible to retrofit cars with higher profile tires because the required smaller diameter wheels would not fit over the larger brake calipers.

Thus, it is really a crapshoot when it comes to avoiding wheel damages. You can avoid wheel curbing by religiously staying away from curbs on your sides but, you can not always avoid potholes at speeds which will bend those wheels regardless of how careful one drives.

 

EDITED by GGG to remove advert

The best way not to ever curb your wheels is to use a feature you've already paid for...the parking assist system. When you align the white stripe along the side of the curb, it makes scraping an impossibility. I never guess as to how close I am to the curb, ever. I simply look at the monitor and trust what the camera is showing me.

Am I missing something here?